Murder on the Hogwarts ExpressThe Fifth Element
by Dark Fairy of the Wood
Summary: The mistery of the Murder on the Hogwarts Express seems to have been solved, but Harry, Draco and the gang are left to deal with the Fifth Element... Chap. 7 up!! Need reviews to continue...
1. The attack

A/N:  
  
Summary: Well, the title is pretty self-explanatory. Four students have been killed and a fifth victim lies unconscious. But, who is she? And why were they killed? And, most importantly, whodunit? Harry Potter & Co. investigate.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything HarryPotterish, JK Rowling does, and I'm not making any money out of this. The plot and the few original characters are mine, if I want them.  
  
Rating: A high PG-13, I suppose, for swearing, violence and gory scenes.  
  
Pairing: Some RW/HG, but I think that main focus might be DM/HP.  
  
Murder in the Hogwarts Express, by Dark Fairy.  
  
Harry pushed his trolley past the barrier and stepped onto Platform 9 ¾, feeling finally at home between the hubbub of students and the noise of the steam engine. His summer had been hell, specially after he wasn't allowed to stay at the Weasleys and he had to stay the whole three months with the Dursleys, locked in the house. Dumbledore had put protection wards all around the house, to alert Harry and the Ministry of a possible Dark attacks, but Voldemort had remained quiet all summer, probably gathering strength. Harry shook his head to dispel the images that had been haunting both his nightmares and his waking hours, images of the Raising of the Dark Lord, that had happened three months before.  
  
"Harry, over here!" shouted Hermione from the window of a compartment, waving so enthusiastically her arm seemed about to fall off. Harry waved back and started hauling the trunk into the carriage; he had missed his friends terribly, and he hadn't even been allowed to send or receive owls.  
  
"Hi, Herm" he said when the bushy-haired girl came to crush him in a bear hug "How was your summer?" That seemingly innocent question raised fire in Hermione's cheeks.  
  
"Well, I stayed with the Weasleys..." she blushed again, and Harry began to understand "Ron was there, you know, and after that letter from Krum, you know...No, of course you don't know! Well, imagine this: Krum writes to me, saying that he's going to be busy training all summer so I can't stay with him, so I got really depressed and so, Ron..."  
  
"He consoled you" said Harry, to put an end to the nervousness of his friend. "Congrats, Herm, I was wondering when you two would notice you're like perfect for each other!"  
  
"You think so? Oh, Harry, thanks, I'm so happy, but I was so nervous!" Hermione started blabbering uncontrollably and Harry asked himself whether she would be spending quite so much time in the library this year.  
  
"Move over, Mudblood, you're occupying too much space with that hair of yours" Harry turned around immediately when he heard Malfoy's sneer for the first time that summer. He hadn't heard it before, when he had spotted Malfoy, the first of all Hogwarts student he had seen, walking with his parents towards King's Cross.  
  
"Look, Malfoy..." Harry was still searching for some appropriate retort when he noticed that the Slytherin had already gone.  
  
"Ignore him, Harry, let's get to our compartment" There, they were greeted by the sound of Exploding Snap, accompanied by cheering when Ginny won the game.  
  
"Hey, guys" greeted Harry, smiling broadly at the innumerable questions about his summer, his health, his broom and his family. Everyone was there, Ron (who blushed like a radish when he saw Harry's knowing wink), Ginny (who blushed as well, without needing an excuse), Lavender and Parvati, Seamus, Dean and Neville. Fortunately the Creevey brothers hadn't found a place there.  
  
The ride started out uneventfully, like it always did. Questions about the new DADA teacher met with blank looks, even from the prefects and Angelina Johnson, the new Head girl. Harry soon forgot all about Dudley listening to Seamus' hilarious stories and shameless flirting with everyone on sight, and he forgot about Vernon and Petunia's fights seeing the mellifluous couple of his bests friends. //Voldemort or not, I'm going to enjoy this first day. I'll worry about him tomorrow//  
  
Harry looked around him and placed his feet on the empty seat in front of him (Neville had gone to look for Trevor, whose only ability was to disappear), feeling satisfied with his life, when an unnatural scream pierced the idle chit-chat and froze everyone on their places. It seemed to come from the compartment on their left, but it was impossible to tell whether it was male or female or even human; it reminded Harry of the golden egg, and he could hear Seamus whispering "Banshee!". The train gave a jerk as it stopped and, gathering all the Gryffindor courage, Harry slid open the door, and peered outside. The only figure on sight was Malfoy, standing a few feet away, in front of the open door of a compartment, with a look of horror and disgust on his face.  
  
Pushed by his friends, Harry advanced towards Malfoy and the open compartment, with a nagging sense of danger. The Slytherin had recovered his expressionless façade, and Harry's eyes were drawn to a red stain on the floor. It was a thick puddle, which advanced slowly towards Malfoy's impeccable Italian-leather shoes; besides the stain, Trevor the toad croaked mournfully. Harry didn't take his eyes of the advancing scarlet substance until he was well within sight of the compartment and its content. When Harry raised his eyes, the first thing he did was grab Malfoy's arm to stop falling, and the Slytherin didn't bother to move away.  
  
The only thing Harry could discern was blood, the red substance that had already pooled on the corridor, sending many girls into fits of hysterics. Then, as in a dream, Harry began to spot familiar things here and there: a round, forgetful-looking face, a thin arm, the blond pigtails of a girl, a bare feet coming out of blood stained robes. //This isn't happening. This isn't happening// repeated Harry as a mantra. His eyes scanned the carnage in front of him, and he could barely register anything; sounds seemed muffled, and the pushing and drawing away of people at his back didn't affect him. The only thing he felt real was the strong arm, covered in silk, of the boy at his side. His eyes continued to watch the horror on their own accord, and after a while, he distinguished something else. A girl, apparently crouching on a corner of the compartment, almost hidden by the bodies and covered in blood. //She can't be alive; no-one can be alive there, there's just too much blood// It was the first time he saw death in cold-blood. When Cedric had been killed there were more pressing matters to deal with that looking at him but now, Harry felt that the only thing he could do was watch the blood and the corpses, for what seemed like a very long time.  
  
"Harry, come on" said a voice behind him, while a strong hand shook him roughly. The boy raised slowly his green eyes to met Dumbledore's blue ones and he said slowly.  
  
"They're dead, Professor"  
  
"I know, Harry" said the Headmaster heavily "Let's go"  
  
"No, Professor, you don't understand. They're dead" repeated Harry, although he allowed himself to be lead away from the dreadful scene, he was still clutching Malfoy's arm, and the Slytherin had no option but to follow them into an empty compartment.  
  
Harry crumbled onto a seat, finally letting go of Malfoy, who automatically brushed his silk shirt, and sat opposite the Gryffindor.  
  
"I'll be here in a moment, boys, don't step out of the compartment until I come back, is that clear?" asked the Headmaster sternly. Harry nodded numbly, his head full of images of blood and dead bodies and blood, and a girl crouching in a corner. He only awoke when Malfoy stood up, and leaned over him to reach a heavy trunk, from which he drew out a massive book and started leafing through it.  
  
"How can you read?" asked Harry in disbelief, watching the steady hands of the blond Slytherin.  
  
"Why shouldn't I?" answered Malfoy, dog-earing a page, and moving on with his search.  
  
"They're dead" said Harry, feeling that those words explained all.  
  
"I know. My cousin was there" replied Draco, looking at Harry for the first time; the Gryffindor had the feeling that his enemy was more hurt that he let on. "He was going to start at Hogwarts this year. And yet I can read" Those beautiful silver eyes returned to the book, and Harry fell silent; he didn't have time to go back to his meditation, though, because the door slid open silently and a procession of people entered their carriage. The first was Snape, carrying a limp body in his arms; behind him came Madam Pomfrey, Dumbledore and a young, blond man, dressed in heavy woollen robes and cloak. Snape placed the body on the seats and Madam Pomfrey moved forwards to examine it.  
  
Harry put down the wand that had flown to his hand when the carriage had opened, and looked at the body. It was a girl, about sixteen years old, but the amount of blood that clung to her didn't allow Harry to make any other observations. He turned to the teachers and saw all the fire gone from Dumbledore's eyes. Snape was fumbling with the lock of a wooden box, and the young man re-entered the compartment, looking rather shaken and pale.  
  
"What was it, Ethan?" asked the Headmaster.  
  
"I don't know" replied the man, sitting down "It wasn't vampires or lamiae, but they were certainly bled to death. How is this girl?"  
  
"She's unconscious, but otherwise she's unharmed. The only damage she has received id this" Madam Pomfrey raised the thin arm of the girl and showed them a row of pinprick wounds on the crook of her elbow.  
  
"Let me see, Poppy" growled Snape, applying a green substance to the arm. Meanwhile, McGonagall came in, dabbing her eyes with a lace handkerchief.  
  
"The Ministry officials are here." she announced "I've also got the names, Albus: Susan Bones, Hufflepuff; Neville Longbottom, Gryffindor; Blanca Bloodroots, Ravenclaw; Angus Noisette, hadn't been sorted yet"  
  
"He would have been in Slytherin" said Malfoy, with a hint of bitterness in his voice. "All our family has been" Dumbledore nodded heavily.  
  
"Thank you, Minerva. Will you contact the families, please?" The Transfiguration teacher left the compartment again, and after moment of silence, the train started moving again.  
  
"She received blood transfusions" announced Snape, looking critically at the purple colour of the potion he was examining "Four different types of blood, all human"  
  
"So, we've got four students, one from each house, bled to death, and another girl who presumably received blood from them" summed up the young man, who received a death stare from the Potions Master.  
  
"What is it, Mr Malfoy?" asked the Headmaster, looking at the wry smile on the Slytherin's lips.  
  
"They're all purebloods, sir." said Malfoy "And all of them had more or less firm claims of carrying the Founders' heritage. Angus was the son of Miriam Halley, a descendant from the oldest branch of the Frigg's of Austria and they always claimed to be secondary descendants of Salazar Slytherin. Longbottom" Draco allowed himself a small sneer, and Harry barely refrained his urges to punch him "comes from a pureblood family, associated with the last known heir of Gryffindor. Bloodroots allegedly was daughter of the Duke of Kent, whose family is related in several generations to the now-extinct Ravenclaws. Bones... her mother's surname is Hufflepuff" Malfoy raised his grey eyes from the book he had used for his demonstration and looked calmly at the Headmaster.  
  
"Damn!" growled the young man, balling his hands into fists. "Someone used the Reuniatos Spell"  
  
"I should think so" nodded Malfoy, leaning back against his seat and looking at the girl laying on the seats. "But, who and who is she?"  
  
Harry, who had been listening attentively to every word said, turned to the limp body on his left; he certainly didn't remember ever seeing her, and the blank looks of everyone around him told him he wasn't the only one.  
  
"The question is not who, but how?" asked Dumbledore worriedly "The Hogwarts Express, and Platform 9 ¾ have wards to stop anyone from Apparating or taking a Portkey, and the girl couldn't have used the normal entrance without a ticket"  
  
"What is the Reuniatos Spell?" asked Harry timidly, feeling all eyes on him.  
  
"I don't know, Harry," answered Dumbledore, to the Gryffindor's great surprise "but our new DADA teacher, Mr Grimm, or maybe Mr Malfoy might explain it to us"  
  
"It's complicated." stuttered the new teacher "Besides we're nearly arriving at Hogwarts and the parents of the dead students will want to see you, Headmaster. I will give you a thorough explanation this evening"  
  
"Very well, Ethan" replied the Headmaster resignedly "Be sure to be in my office after the Welcoming Feast" The train stopped at the Hogwarts station and the massive silhouette of Hagrid could be seen in the distance. "Well, boys, make your way to the castle, I'll see you later"  
  
Malfoy and Harry left the compartment and entered the flow of hysterical, crying students. Harry soon found his friends and in the carriage he told them everything, between Ginny's heartrending sobs and the Irish cursing of Seamus. //So much for enjoying my first day// thought Harry gloomily, watching Trevor croak in Hermione's trembling hands.  
  
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A/N: Well, how was it? I need my ego frequently stroked, so click the button on your left to review and no flames, please! 


	2. Wondering after dark

A/N: Thanks to my reviewers!  
  
Summary: Well, the title is pretty self-explanatory. Four students have been killed and a fifth victim lies unconscious. But, who is she? And why were they killed? And, most importantly, whodunit? Harry Potter & Co. investigate and meanwhile, love tries to flourish.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything HarryPotterish, JK Rowling does, and I'm not making any money out of this. The plot and the few original characters are mine, if I want them.  
  
Rating: A high PG-13, I suppose, for swearing, violence and gory scenes.  
  
Pairing: Some RW/HG, but I think that main focus might be DM/HP.  
  
Maybe not yet, but sooner than later, this will be SLASH!!!!! If you don't like it, the "Back" button is there for a reason, so spare me the narrow- minded flames!  
  
Murder in the Hogwarts Express or the Fifth Element, by Dark Fairy.  
  
Chapter 2  
  
  
  
The Sorting Ceremony and Welcoming Feast were nothing but a concoction of tears, fits of hysterics, blank looks and much confusion and pain. Harry himself went back to the state of disbelief he had felt in the train, and he couldn't relate the tear-stained faces and grave looks with the muffled sounds and sighs. Only when Dumbledore stood up to declare that the attack was being investigated and that nothing was to be feared from students at Hogwarts, he felt a sobering rage. There was a lot to be feared, indeed no- one could deem they were safe while the attacker wasn't identified, there was no safety in the world while so much blood could be spilled all at once...  
  
"Harry! Harry, come on, we must go!" Hermione looked worriedly at her friend with her red-brimmed eyes; the Gryffindor prefects and McGonagall were hoarding the students to the Tower, but Harry was still sitting at the table, with the intact dinner-plate in front of him and a blank expression on his face.  
  
"I don't want to go up there, Herm, you go on" he replied tiredly; the thought of entering the room where Neville would never snore again, of seeing the empty bed and abandoned trunk, was less than appealing.  
  
"You can't stay here, Harry, Professor McGonagall said we all had to go to bed" whispered Hermione, scandalised; Harry's only answer was to envelop himself in his Invisibility Cloak and disappear into nothingness.  
  
"Miss Granger, are you coming or not?" snapped the Gryffindor Head of House from the door. Hermione walked dutifully behind the teacher, throwing a last backwards glance where her best friend was supposed to be.  
  
Harry wasn't there any longer. He had moved stealthily towards an unguarded door and into a small corridor; quietly he avoided a couple of prefects and a teacher who were guarding the entrances, and he continued his aimless tour of night-time Hogwarts, until he found himself on the corridor leading to the hospital wing. His confused thoughts gave way to one very clear idea: the girl who had been found on the train. He remembered the blood- covered figure, the look Snape had given her, the reference to the unknown spell...  
  
Harry was already standing in front of the door that separated Madam Pomfrey's realm from the school when he realised he couldn't just step in there asking for information. No, information would have to come from another source, and that could be...  
  
Draco Malfoy was standing behind a pillar, engulfed by the heavy shadows and almost invisible now that he had his fair complexion hid under a black cloak. Only the eerie light of his grey eyes alerted Harry of the perfect opportunity for getting one over his archenemy. Then, he remembered a pained look on a pale face, the soft feeling of a silk-clad arm, a clever smile, the reference to the spell. The most Slytherin part of the Boy Who Lived came to light when Malfoy felt a wand on his temple and heard a low voice urging him on.  
  
"Walk quietly towards the Great Hall, or I'll hex you into oblivion" The blond boy complied, quelling an initial surge of panic into hyperawareness, looking for a way to escape. The Slytherin and his kidnapper made their silent way until they reached a open door to a classroom "In there and keep quiet" Draco entered the deserted, moonlit classroom and felt the door closing behind him. It was his perfect opportunity, and he took hold of it by spinning quickly around and hitting his attacker with all his force.  
  
Harry felt the punch before he actually registered Malfoy's movement, and all his renowned Seeker reflexes were of no use as he found himself on the floor, feeling his jaw throb under the intense pain. Malfoy stood disorientated for a moment, confused of having hit someone who wasn't anywhere to be seen, but Harry's grunt gave him the necessary orientation to drop to the floor and yank the Invisibility Cloak off the Gryffindor.  
  
"For goodness' sake, Potter, do you know how stupid you are?" were the first words that Draco could sputter when he saw the lying form of The Boy Who Lived on the floor.  
  
"Not as stupid as you'd like to believe, that's for sure" replied Harry half-heartedly, blushing at the thought of having the roles reversed and being at the mercy of his worst enemy. Malfoy stood up, turning his back to the Gryffindor and trying to vent his frustration, rage, fright and excess adrenaline into a brisk walk.  
  
"Four students have been butchered less than four hours ago by the most skilled killer in magical history, and all Harry Potter can think of doing is walk around on his own, after curfew, trying to get caught! I mean, why were you even sorted into Gryffindor, you should have been sent to St. Mungo's straight away! Are you actually *trying* to look stupid, because I hardly think that you could be that thick naturally!"  
  
"Gee, Malfoy, are you actually concerned about my well-being?" replied Harry, trying to take the spotlight away from his foolhardiness "What is it to you if I get killed or not? You'd probably celebrate it anyway"  
  
"Oh, I cannot believe someone can be so obtuse and still live! You surely are living, talking proof that the Dark Lord is a fraud, because anyone with more than two working neurones could make short work of you!" Malfoy silently prayed that his mention of Voldemort would distract Harry from his outburst of worry. Truth be said, Draco had been so surprised of finding Harry in such a vulnerable position that he had voiced that first words that had come to his head, unaware of their actual meaning.  
  
"Since when...? Are you...? Weren't you...?" Harry stammered, trying ineffectually to express his surprise: had Malfoy just spoken disrespectfully of Voldemort?  
  
"Very coherent and all, Potter," drawled Malfoy, sounding very much like his favourite teacher "but I've got better things to do tonight"  
  
"Like standing in front of the hospital wing all night? What were you trying to do just then, Malfoy?"  
  
"Probably the same thing that you, like the self-imposed suffering hero you are, were trying to do. I'll get a look of that girl or die trying" answered Malfoy, sounding very final. Harry meanwhile tried to look as if that was what he had been intending to do from the beginning. The Slytherin turned to the door and Harry followed him, after picking up his cloak.  
  
"What is the Reuniatos Spell?" asked Harry as they were leaving the empty classroom; Malfoy turned to him with a vaguely amused look.  
  
"Don't tell me that Gryffindor's resident know-it-all hasn't managed to dig it up yet?" Harry frowned and followed Malfoy's graceful strides down the corridor, oblivious that they were past curfew and susceptible of being caught and given detention any minute. "The Reuniatos Spell is a very antique piece of old dark magic" began Draco with an annoying lecturing tone "It is used to reunite, hence the name, in one person the power or characteristics of several others; it has been abandoned of late because, as we've seen, the donors have to be bled to death"  
  
"How do you know all that?" asked Harry, trying to hide his admiration under a veneer of disapproval. "Have you gone to a Death Eaters Summer Camp, or what?" Without warning, Malfoy turned round and slammed Harry into the wall forcefully; for the second time that night, the Boy Who Lived found himself at Draco's mercy.  
  
"Don't *ever* say that again, Potter, do you hear me?" hissed the Slytherin, looking very affronted; the sudden change in demeanour unsettled Harry, while at the same time he couldn't help noticing the bright grey eyes and thick eyelashes.  
  
"Sorry" replied the Gryffindor automatically.  
  
"You bloody well should be" growled Malfoy, dropping Harry's throat and stalking on towards the hospital wing. The dark-haired boy stood for a moment in silence, feeling confusion dancing in his head: why was Malfoy so angry at his mention of Death Eaters? And how come he had made fun of Voldemort? Could it be.? With a jolt, Harry realised that he had lost Malfoy and it was only when he found him standing in front of the hospital wing that the conclusion that had formed inside his head came to light: Malfoy wasn't in the Dark Side any longer. While Harry searched for an appropriate comment, Draco said something that made all unspoken words evaporate.  
  
"How is you jaw, Potter?" Harry looked at him, wondering if he had gone mad, but Malfoy saved him the trouble of asking "I'm not concerned, you twit, but we need to get in the hospital wing somehow. Just follow me, will you?" And with that, Draco took hold of Harry's wrist and made his way into the hospital wing.  
  
"What are you doing here? It's only the first day back!" shrieked Madam Pomfrey indignantly when she saw the two boys entering the room.  
  
"It's his jaw" replied Malfoy offhandedly, while searching for the girl in the small hospital wing. One bed, surrounded by red curtains, caught his attention.  
  
"What happened to it?" inquired the matron, while she examined the angry bruise forming on Harry's face.  
  
"Erm... I...you see..." Harry searched in vain for a good excuse that didn't involve Malfoy hitting him, but the Slytherin saved him the trouble.  
  
"We had a fight and I hit him" said Draco with a beatific smile. The nurse expressed her disapproval with a frown and a tsk-tsk, but Harry discovered that in the hospital wing, like in Potions, Slytherins had preference, and even more when said Slytherin was called Malfoy. Finally, Harry's jaw returned to its normal size and colour, and Madam Pomfrey authorised them to leave, which they did, although as soon as they were out of the door they went back in, covered with the cloak.  
  
Invisibility was a sensation Draco wasn't familiar with; he felt very unsure as they walked in front of Madam Pomfrey, knowing her gaze would pass right through them, and he gripped Harry's arm, partly to reassure himself and partly to avenge his crumpled silk shirt from the train. Harry didn't reply, although he felt greatly surprised when Draco's long fingers wrapped themselves around his arm in altogether new, and not so unpleasant, feeling.  
  
Slowly and warily they went round the covered bed, away from where the Hogwarts matron was sitting and made their way quietly inside the realm enclosed by the curtains. Harry didn't want to look at the figure on the bed, memories of blood and gore too recent, but he didn't fancy looking foolish for the third time that night, in front of Malfoy no less.  
  
On his side, Draco was feeling less than sure himself. He wanted to avenge the death of his cousin, and he was well aware that his father would be asking for information as soon as he could send an encrypted owl, but if it wasn't because he could handle *anything* Potter could, he would have bolted out of the hospital wing faster than you could say "potion".  
  
There was nothing to be afraid of, though. The unconscious figure on the bed was a sixteen year-old girl, with dark hair, pale skin, miraculously long eyelashes (//Like Malfoy's// thought Harry vaguely), and thin, pale lips. There was no obvious magic surging through her, no evident clue as to who had put her on the train, nothing but an ill child.  
  
"Disappointing as it may be, I think this is not getting us anywhere" concluded Draco in a whisper after a few minutes of careful examination.  
  
"Let's go, then" proposed Harry, turning slowly towards the door.  
  
"Wait, you fool!" hissed the Slytherin, crushing Harry's wrist into a death grip and backing into the closest wall "Someone's coming!"  
  
Indeed, the curtains were drawn back and Dumbledore's colourful figure was seen standing in the path to the door. He wasn't alone, either: Snape and the DADA teacher were also there, all looking worriedly at the lying figure.  
  
"What are we going to do, Headmaster?" asked Snape, completely ignoring Grimm.  
  
"I don't know, Severus" replied the old man heavily "The Ministry is in complete disarray and they have left this in our hands. Madame Pince insists there is no reference to this spell in the library, and the references we've managed to collect are all contradictory and uncertain"  
  
"The Reuniatos spell is highly complicated and its effects might vary depending upon the sources and the time of year..." Ethan Grimm trailed off under Snape's hateful glare, and then picked up again "We don't even know if she'll wake up, or what she'll remember if she does, or if she even will show any changes"  
  
"What could the spell do to her, Ethan?" asked Dumbledore, not taking the eyes off the girl. The DADA teacher took various rolls of parchment out of his cloak and started leafing though them.  
  
"It might give this girl the memories of the dead students, like one case in the 12th century... or it might send her into a non-waking coma... there's a case in which the victim splintered into as many donors as he had had... maybe receive the best skills from the students..."  
  
"We must remember what young Mr Malfoy told us" interrupted Snap in his silkiest voice, while said Mr Malfoy backed even further into the wall, pulling Harry with him "The choosing of Heirs for this.. sacrifice cannot be a coincidence. Whoever did this is trying to create a champion who can have all the qualities of the four houses. It seems like it's trying to play for our side"  
  
"It wasn't Voldemort, then" mused Dumbledore, stroking his white long beard "but someone who is against him... someone quite powerful, with a extensive knowledge of Dark Magic and no qualms about sacrificing human lives" Malfoy became even paler, noticed Harry with a certain worry, and he shook his blonde head once or twice as if trying to dispel a worrying thought.  
  
"A Hogwarts Champion... why did they chose this girl, whoever she is? You would have thought they would try to get someone like Harry Potter for this." Said Grimm. Now to was Harry's turn to shrink and pull the cloak closer.  
  
"It's not only a champion" replied a misty, veiled-over voice from the doorway. Professor Trelawny glided from the door, squinting at the bright light "My dears, you have forgotten what houses are made of. Elements, my dears, elements. The reunion of four elements create a fifth, more powerful than the rest and often represented by blood..." Even Snape looked impressed at this, and Harry spotted a certain twinkling in Dumbledore's eyes, between worry and sadness. //Maybe it's time for another pay rise// though Harry.  
  
"So, here's the Fifth element, ready for us to use. What will come out of this?" asked the Headmaster with a sigh; the teachers moved over to where Madam Pomfrey had the medicines she had been administering to the girl, and Draco and Harry took the chance to walk quietly to the door and out of the hospital wing. They only stopped in the Great Hall, where Malfoy took off the Invisibility Cloak and bolted towards the Slytherin dungeons without so much as a backward glance, leaving a confused Harry on his way to Gryffindor Tower to inform the rest of the Dream Team.  
  
----------------- A/N: If you don't feel like reviewing, I'm not going to pester you, do as you like. 


	3. Collaborating

A/N: Thanks to my reviewers!  
  
Summary: Well, the title is pretty self-explanatory. Four students have been killed and a fifth victim lies unconscious. But, who is she? And why were they killed? And, most importantly, whodunit? Harry Potter & Co. investigate while love tries to flourish.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything HarryPotterish, JK Rowling does, and I'm not making any money out of this. The plot and the few original characters are mine, if I want them.  
  
Rating: A high PG-13, I suppose, for swearing, violence and gory scenes.  
  
Pairing: Some RW/HG, but I think that main focus might be DM/HP.  
  
Murder in the Hogwarts Express or the Fifth Element, by Dark Fairy.  
  
Chapter 3  
  
"You need love like I do, don't you?/ I can tell by the way you look when I'm looking at you/ You need love like I do, don't you?/ It seems like I'm looking in the mirror when I'm looking at you" Tom Jones and Heather Small, 'You need love like I do'  
  
"What are you staring at, Potter?" hissed Malfoy softly, awaking Harry from his reverie. They had finally managed to corner the Slytherin at lunch-time and threaten him into collaborating with the Dream Team (to Ron's great chagrin, because he still didn't believe in the advantages of having a clever, well-informed Slytherin with them) and now they were sitting in the library, in front of a pile of books, where they had been researching for about twenty minutes, although Harry often found himself looking away from his encyclopaedia and towards the Slytherin.  
  
"Nothing, Malfoy, nothing" replied the Gryffindor, quickly looking away //What am I doing staring at Malfoy? Although his hair catches the light like a halo and his eyes look unsettlingly dark from here, but... what's wrong with me?//  
  
Everybody fell silent again. Ron had his arms around Hermione, trying to comfort her like he had been doing since their first day, and Harry felt rather left out //Third wheels never work, they say...//; unconsciously his eyes turned to Malfoy, who was also standing alone and looking rather wistfully at the embracing couple. As soon as those grey eyes turned to Harry, the Gryffindor boy looked away in confusion, and for the first time in his life he was glad to hear Hermione coughing meaningfully.  
  
"I know that there's no reference to the Reuniatos spell in the Hogwarts library" she started, sounding highly sceptical, like she couldn't believe there was *something* which wasn't in the library "but we have managed to find a rather impressive amount of information about the elements. This might give some clue into what the girl might become when she wakes up..."  
  
"But we still don't know anything about *who* did this" interrupted Ron, to his girlfriend's great annoyance "I think that is the most important bit, because if it wasn't You-Know-Who, it means we have yet another full- fledged lunatic running around..."  
  
"Only that this one is playing for the Light Side" reasoned Hermione soothingly.  
  
"It doesn't matter, 'Mione," said Harry sternly "he is still killing innocent people..."  
  
"But he's done what he wanted, hasn't he? He's created the Fifth Element and left it in the hands of Dumbledore so he can use it. He got what he wanted."  
  
"How do you know what he wants, Granger?" cut in Malfoy acidly, making the girl jump "You have no idea of how some people's minds work. All your goody- goody book-knowledge cannot tell you anything about it. You don't know a damn thing, so shut up and read" The sudden aggressiveness of the Slytherin flared Harry up.  
  
"And I suppose you know a lot about it, don't you, with you being a Malfoy and all?"  
  
"I do, yes" replied Draco, with a mixture of resignation and pride simmering under his ice-cold countenance. The Gryffindors fell silent, guessing there was much left unsaid behind that simple statement.  
  
"I'm going to have lunch, you coming, 'Mione?" proposed Ron, showing a sensitiveness no-one could have guessed he'd show towards his enemy. His girlfriend agreed with him, but Harry felt particularly disinclined to leave Draco's side, and so both boys stayed under Madam Pince's suspicious look.  
  
"What is it, Potter? Aren't you happy enough with imposing me your presence for a full hour? You want to continue the torture for how long exactly?" The snappy remarks left Malfoy's almost closed lips in a dangerous hiss.  
  
"You can tell me, you know?" replied Harry quietly, making his enemy raise an eyebrow in surprise.  
  
"Tell you what, Potter? My innermost fears and nightmares? Do you want to have a bloody therapy here?" Draco was trying to avoid the truth of what he *had* been considering to tell Harry.  
  
"I know you wanted to tell me something." insisted Harry, basing his words on a strange gut-feeling and the desire to keep talking with the Slytherin "You can trust me to keep it a secret if you want to"  
  
"I can *trust* you, Potter? Is that you being your self-righteous Gryffindor self? Offering your hand to your enemy after you rejected it once? I certainly don't think so!" Draco was feeling rather light-headed and excited, for some unfathomable reason, and he got up to leave, knowing it was dangerous to stay near The Boy Who Lived in his present fevered state.  
  
"Stay, Malfoy" said Harry, halfway between a plea and an order. He had taken hold of Draco's thin wrist, and the Slytherin looked at him with a certain amusement in his eyes.  
  
"What do you want?" the question was devoid of scorn, of malice, of annoyance; it was a simple quest for information.  
  
"What is it you know and you're not telling me?" insisted Harry "Why aren't you with Voldemort any longer? Why.?"  
  
"Stop acting like a five year-old, Potter" interrupted Malfoy, feeling more composed. "One question at a time, didn't they teach you that as a child?" A shadow covered Harry's green eyes, and Draco felt almost remorseful of having brought up the issue. "One of the many things that I know and I'm not telling you is who was responsible for the attack to the Hogwarts Express." A certain bitterness seeped through those words, and Harry refrained his eagerness to know "The reasons why I left Voldemort? I never joined him in the first place, and I could say that his reasoning didn't suit mine. A half-dead dark wizard is not quite the role-model, you know? Even less for a Malfoy."  
  
"What did your father say about it?" Draco's slate-grey eyes became almost black at the mention of his father.  
  
"Nothing. My father, contrary to popular belief, rather likes me. He decided to let me hold my own" Malfoy shrugged and released his wrist from the hold Harry still had on it. "Enough information for one day, don't you think? You and your Gryffindor friends will have to actually use your brains now"  
  
"But, the other thing.?" asked Harry when Malfoy was already half-way out of the library.  
  
"I wouldn't want to put you brain into overload, would I? Besides, what would I win if I told you *everything*...?" The last words floated in the atmosphere until Hermione and Ron came back and Harry hurriedly informed them of the latest discoveries.  
  
"But why didn't you ask him, Harry? He *knows*, the filthy scumbag. I don't believe a word of what he said about leaving You-Know-Who... and why didn't you ask him, mate? Harry? Harry!" Ron actually had to shake Harry's shoulder to get his attention.  
  
"Sorry, what did you just say?" Harry came back from his reverie to find Ron looking at him in alarm, while Hermione had a more amused expression.  
  
"Ron, sweetheart, you heard Harry, Malfoy left before he could ask. Besides, hurry up or you'll both be late for Divination" The girl shooed both boys off to the North Tower, and she followed the black-haired Gryffindor with a worried look "I hope I'm misunderstanding things, Harry, or you'll need more that your share of good luck to pull it off..." Shaking her head, Hermione made her way to Professor Vector's classroom.  
  
"Every time I see you/ something happens to me,/ like a chain reaction/ between you and me:/ my heart starts missing a beat/ my heart starts missing a beat/ every time./ (Pet Shop Boys, "Heart")  
  
"Professor Grimm, I need to talk to you after lessons" stated Malfoy clearly for all the class to hear; the young teacher looked attentively at the Slytherin and nodded.  
  
"Very well, Mr Malfoy" Draco smirked at the pompous manner of Ethan, his closest cousin and confidante. He had always wondered why Dumbledore had accepted a boy from such an eyebrow-raising heritage to teach at Hogwarts; you'd have thought that Snape was enough...  
  
"Harry, wake up, mate, what's wrong with you?!" Ron's hoarse whisper could be heard by the whole class, and Harry turned very red when he felt the teacher staring at him.  
  
"Alright, Ron, no need to embarrass me in front of everyone!" hissed Harry, glaring at Draco's smirk.  
  
"Wakey, wakey, Potty" sing-songed Malfoy annoyingly from his place on the Slytherin side of class, in a whisper that no-one else heard "We don't want you to have a nightmare here, do we?" The Gryffindor turned to his enemy, about to retaliate, when the teacher advance towards him.  
  
"Something wrong, Mr Potter? No? Then I suggest you turn round and start paying attention; you may think you don't need these lessons, but even I can teach something to the great Harry Potter" Did he realise how much he sounded like Snape? Harry turned back to his parchment and quill, feeling his heartbeat follow an ungainly rhythm and tried a few therapeutic breaths. Why were Malfoy's eyes glued to the back of his neck? Why did they leave a warm tingly feeling? Why did he *know* those were Malfoy's big, grey-and-silver eyes? What was wrong with him? "Mr Potter, what did you say were the appropriate words for raising a Protection Spell?"  
  
"Erm, 'Resguardio'?" ventured Harry, praying he had rightly read Hermione's note.  
  
"Right, then can *anyone* tell me why Protection Spells are not commonly used?" Taking advantage of the fact that Grimm didn't know her, Hermione monopolised the rest of the lesson, leaving her classmates to take sporadic notes, or fall into a daydream, as in Harry's case. Only when the lesson was over, and he was packing his things, did Harry verily awake, feeling all of a sudden hyper-aware and nervous. He sensed, more than saw, Malfoy flinging his bag over his shoulder, dismissing his two gorillas and walking towards the teacher. He also sensed the electric sparks flying when the Slytherin brushed past him, leaning on him perhaps a bit more force than would have been needed.  
  
"Come on, Harry, you need to eat, maybe then you'll snap out of it" stated Hermione, dragging her dark-haired friend out of the classroom and into the Great Hall, hoping to avoid a realisation that was more than necessary. While the last students finished packing and vacating the DADA classroom, Draco mentally kicked himself: instead of paying attention, or developing a evil plan to boycott the Gryffindors, he had spent the lesson *staring* at Potter. He frankly hoped no-one had noticed, but he simply couldn't seem to be able to tear his eyes away from the fragile-looking neck of The Boy Who Lived. Finally the classroom was empty, and Malfoy left the dangerous ground of his meditations and turned back to the business at hand.  
  
"So, Ethan," he started, after checking the door was well closed "what did you tell Dumbledore last night?"  
  
"I know very little about the Reuniatos, Draco, and I couldn't withhold much information. He knew most of it, though." Eyeing his cousin with a little mistrust, the teacher asked: "Are you informing Lucius about this?"  
  
Draco gave a small, bitter laugh.  
  
"Don't play innocent with me, Ethan. You suspect my father like I do. In fact, I'm almost sure it was him, and, of course, I don't have any evidence to prove me. It wouldn't be my father if I had" There was a kind of desolate pride in those words.  
  
"So, I'm not the only one" muttered Grimm, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I wonder how long it'll be before Dumbledore goes down this train of thought."  
  
"Not long, probably, if he hasn't already. It'll be hard to nail Lucius, though, he's slippery to Hell and beyond" Draco started pacing the room back and forth "Last night I sent father a small report on what had happened, but I don't think he'll be giving me any clues soon, and I don't particularly think I'd like him to"  
  
"Are you going to do anything?" asked Ethan.  
  
"You talk as if I *could* do anything. What? Risk my neck finding clues to imprison my own father? What would I win with that?"  
  
"You could always let Potter do the job. A few clues here and there, and him and his sidekicks will pull another stunt." Ethan smiled wanly.  
  
"I don't want my father to be caught, Ethan, I don't think you want that either" Draco pronounced those words very carefully. "If he hits the bottom, he'll make sure we all go down with him. Stop being so self- righteous and start thinking survival" with a sigh, Draco prepared himself to ask the other question "What do you know about the girl?"  
  
"We don't know anything yet; she's still unconscious and no-one seems to know her" sighed Ethan, sitting in the edge of his desk "There has no reports of disappearances whatsoever in the wizarding world, but Dumbledore thought it best to investigate in the Muggle world before taking more desperate measures, like trying to trace the girl's blood"  
  
"Dumbledore thinks she may be Muggle?" asked Malfoy in disbelief; what would a Muggle do in all that? "My father would never use a Muggle for something like this, would he?"  
  
"He's your father, not mine, you should know him better. But yet I don't think that Uncle Lucius would taint his precious dark spells with Muggle blood unless it was extremely necessary..."  
  
"Keep me informed on the state of the girl and anything you find out about her, all right? Good lesson today, too" Draco lied "I'll see you around"  
  
Harry raised his head as soon as Malfoy entered the Great Hall, and met the grey eyes of the Slytherin boy, who seemed to have been looking for him; after a second of staring into each other's eyes they both looked away, Harry turning his attention back to where Ron was hosting an animated Quidditch debate, and Draco towards the Slytherin table. Both were cursing mentally //Why did I let him catch me staring at him? Was he staring at me too?//. Behind her bushy hair, Hermione smiled knowingly.  
  
----------------------------- A/N: I HATE when Hermione knows everything, but it kind of happened...I know, we haven't gotten very far in this chapter but I assure you that the next one will be more action-packed: we'll find out who the girl is for an instance (no, she is NOT MarySue) and the two boys will continue to be their charming oblivious selves...Now, if you got this far, REVIEW!!!!! 


	4. Wakey, wakey!

A/N: Why does Draco have so many cousins? I just noticed, but I suppose I can make up for it with all the inter-breeding those old wizarding families must have. I can't tell you how grateful I am for your reviews.you made my day!!!!!  
  
Summary: Well, the title is pretty self-explanatory. Four students have been killed and a fifth victim lies unconscious. But, who is she? And why were they killed? And, most importantly, whodunit? Harry Potter & Co. investigate while love tries to flourish.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything HarryPotterish, JK Rowling does, and I'm not making any money out of this. The plot and the few original characters are mine, if I want them. Lyrics by Pet Shop Boys and their song "Heart".  
  
Rating: A high PG-13, I suppose, for swearing, violence and gory scenes.  
  
Pairing: Some RW/HG, but I think that main focus might be DM/HP.  
  
Murder in the Hogwarts Express or the Fifth Element, by Dark Fairy.  
  
Chapter 4  
  
  
  
Dumbledore sat on the hospital wing, in front of the only bed whose snow- white sheets were dented by a thin body, and anyone would have noticed that his blue eyes had lost all their twinkling, if the remaining occupants of the room weren't too busy staring at a very long roll of parchment. Finally, Snape and Grimm stopped glaring at each other and at the parchment, and Madame Pomfrey came back with an armful of clean bandages.  
  
"Nothing, Headmaster" announced Ethan, giving a last disappointed look to the list of Muggles girls disappeared in the last weeks. None of them matched the description of the fragile being on the bed, and all the other queries had gone the same path, ending in the brick-wall of nowhere.  
  
"We'll have to follow your suggestion, Severus, as much as I dislike it" concluded Dumbledore, straightening up. The Potions Master, trying, and failing, not too look too smug, went towards the girl with a small blade in his hand; raising her arm carefully, he cut the skin just above the elbow, gathering the blood in a small wooden bowl. "How long will it take?"  
  
"In fifteen minutes it will be done, if natural laws are not altered in the meanwhile" replied Snape, going to work on a distant table. Grimm looked at him for a moment and then whispered something to Dumbledore, who assented distractedly. The DADA teacher left the hospital wing, quickly reaching a rusty suit of armour in the Hufflepuff corridor; looking around for anyone, Ethan raised the head slowly and spoke into it.  
  
"Get a cloak and go into hospital now to see what you want" Message delivered, Ethan hurried back to the hospital wing. In the Slytherin common room, Draco jumped when he received the whispered words and, ignoring the astounded looks he received, he stepped into the fire, muttering 'Gryffindor common room'.  
  
"If I didn't love you/ I would look around for someone else,/ but every time I see you, you have the same effect:/ my heart starts missing a beat,/ my heart starts missing a beat,/ every time."  
  
The uproar when Malfoy appeared in the Gryffindor fire was bigger than the storm of applause Harry had got at his first Quidditch match; everyone in the common room jumped to their feet, their wands ready, trembling with expectation as the blonde Slytherin calmly ignored them and walked towards the only ones who still remained seated, not even bothering to draw out his wand.  
  
"Harry, watch out!" shrieked Alicia Spinett, trembling from head to foot, as Malfoy reached the place of the Boy Who Lived. Harry's uncomprehending green eyes followed the smirk that graced Malfoy's rosy lips when the Slytherin leaned down to whisper something to them; the few words were enough to cause Hermione to drop her runes dictionary, Ron to start on a coughing fit and Harry to bolt out of his armchair and run up the stairs leading to this dorm. Confusion now settled into the heads of the Gryffindors: here was their most hated adversary, strolling into their common room as if he owned it, talking to Harry Potter and making him run with a sole whisper from his lips...what was the world coming to? Things got only more complicated when Harry went back in, clutching a package under his arm, looking curiously blushed and dishevelled.  
  
"Come on, Potter! Let's use the fire, I am in a hurry" called Malfoy as the other boy went towards the portrait. Blushing even harder, Harry silently complied, shooting daggers at the smirking Slytherin. Conscious that the whole of Gryffindor House was looking at them, the blonde boy gave in to temptation: "We wouldn't want to be late for our date, would we, darling?" drawled Draco, leaning close to Harry, seconds before they disappeared between the flames.  
  
"What was that all about?!" shrieked Ginny, looking ready to faint; Hermione just sank further into her armchair, shielding herself from the questions with a heavy Arithmancy book, while Ron was still coughing and spluttering, and thence of no use to the gossiping students.  
  
"Every time I see you/ no matter what we do/ there's a strange reaction,/ can you feel it too?/ My hearts starts missing a beat,/ my heart starts missing a beat,/ every time."  
  
"What was that all about?!" Draco tried to calm the erratic pattern of his beating heart when they landed in an empty classroom near to the hospital wing, but having a blushed, bright-eyed Harry facing him, wasn't helping any.  
  
"Gave them something to talk about, didn't I?" drawled Malfoy, making Harry blush even harder; all of a sudden he began to wish for a change of house. "Must be so boring being a Gryffindor"  
  
"Let's go" said Harry, having suddenly decided that he didn't want to bore further into the issue; holding his Invisibility Cloak and trying to conceal his loudly beating heart and flaming cheeks, he waited until Malfoy joined him and then started the familiar path to the hospital wing. As he walked, he remembered how he had felt strangely warm when he saw Malfoy gracefully stepping out of the familiar fire, strolling towards him as in a dream, leaning in to whisper 'Get your bloody cloak and hurry up, they're waking up the girl!', but having him leaning close, drawling something about a date with his sultry smirk...it was all too much for a Gryffindor's sanity.  
  
Only then did Harry notice that they were at the door leading to the hospital wing and Draco was performing the Dissolving Spell on the heavy wooden door. They stepped through it carefully, feeling their breath shorten when they noticed Dumbledore, Grimm and Snape standing solemnly in front of the bed, where Madam Pomfrey was bandaging the girl's arm. A wooden bowl sat on a nearby table, simmering softly, and both boys walked quietly to stand half-hidden behind the bed curtains. A minute of silence passed, and then the potion in the bowl stopped simmering, stopped boiling, stopped fuming, and instead became crystal clear. Dumbledore sighed softly and shook his head: he had been one of the main contradictors to the Ancestry Potion, which showed a portrait of a person's relatives with a small sample of blood, but all was fair in love and war...  
  
Snape brought the bowl carefully to the Hogwarts Headmaster, allowing him to peer into it first. The old wizard did so and his eyes widened in surprise before pushing the bowl away from him, almost violently. Intrigued by the Headmaster's reaction, both teachers laid their differences apart for a moment and stared into the liquid.  
  
"Oh, man!" whispered Grimm; Snape remained expressionless, but his eyes were burning like hot coals. "What does this mean?!" asked Ethan helplessly, looking about him as if searching for an answer.  
  
"Must be a mistake of the potion" muttered Snape, surprising everyone in the room; //The world must be definitely coming to an end if Snape is admitting a mistake in one of his potions// thought Harry, whishing he could also peer into the bowl, and whishing Malfoy stopped leaning against him so...it was too warm under the cloak.  
  
"No, my dear Severus, I'm afraid your potion is perfect, as always" answered Dumbledore, regretting his intent on knowing the girl.  
  
"But I can only see flowers!" exclaimed the youngest teacher, making the matron drop a spoon in surprise.  
  
"Flowers?! What do you mean by flowers? This girl is not a flower! She's a girl!" Madam Pomfrey started muttering mutinously about teachers too young to know better.  
  
"Thank you, Poppy" interrupted Dumbledore, looking suddenly exhausted. "Yes, Ethan, those are flowers in the bowl, and yes, Severus, the potion is working beautifully and yes, Poppy, the girl is a girl" Everyone held their breaths as the old wizard prepared himself to bring forward the conclusion to the mismatching set of premises. "A girl made from flowers is one of the most ancient Celtic traditions, and, like most traditions, has a firm hold on ancient magical knowledge; the recipes for creating human beings are thought to have been lost in the decay of the Dark Arts, but, obviously, we've been mistaken" Snape actually blinked at this, while the DADA teacher continued mouthing like a goldfish. Under the Invisibility Cloak, Harry looked alarmed at Malfoy, whose face was still giving nothing away, although the closed countenance was being betrayed by his trembling hands.  
  
"A girl made of flowers?!" Madam Pomfrey looked at the Headmaster, weighing the chances of him having finally broken down, like she had announced ages ago. "Someone used very advanced dark magic to create a human being from plants, is *that* what you're implying?"  
  
"Something along those lines, yes" Dumbledore rubbed the bridge of his nose and looked again at the girl, pale and innocent-looking. "We should wake her up, you know? It seems unfair to keep her in the dark for so long, and we definitely need to know if she is going to help us..."  
  
"We can't wake her up" stuttered Ethan, finally having come out of his astonishment. "There's no record of a victim being artificially awakened..."  
  
"We can't wake her up!" agreed Madam Pomfrey "Goodness know what she could do!"  
  
"We can't wake her up," recommended Snape "until we know a little more about what she might really be; this flower theory is just a theory..."  
  
"Enervate!" commanded Dumbledore, ignoring both judicious comments and horrified gasps. His wand shot a stream of white light towards the lying figure, who didn't react to it at first.  
  
"Thank goodness!" whispered Madam Pomfrey seeing the immobile figure. Then, as in slow motion, long eyelashes began to flutter and eyes flew open, staring without seeing at the stone ceiling.  
  
The girl had awoken, that was for sure. Her eyes were open and her chest was heaving rapidly in shallow breaths, but there was no other sign of her activity. No-one dared to interrupt the silence, no one dared to speak to her, not knowing what kind of monster hid under the fragile shape. Slowly, the girl began to move her hands over the blanket, feeling them as someone blind would; at last, gripping weakly the sheets, she managed to sit up, leaning against the pillows. Her still gaze examined everyone in the room, evaluating the frightened, pale, faces, the uncertain looks, the wands pointing at her; then she spotted a wooden bowl laying on the bed, and compared it to the still stinging cut in her arm: it was the same. Uncertainly, crawling quickly on all fours and resembling an overgrown cat, she went over to the potion and stared into it, wrinkling her nose at the acre odour it produced: There she was, inside that bowl, drawn in shaky lines of flowery heritage; she looked up to watch the oldest man, the one with the most powerful aura, the one whose blue eyes looked at her attentively. Under that look, she shrinked away and crawled back under the blankets, feeling very insecure. Why was she there?  
  
"Who are you?" asked a booming voice, hurting her delicate ears; she whimpered and burrowed further into the sheets. "Can you understand me?" the voice had become softer; the girl peeped her head out of the blankets, her dark hair mussed, and nodded weakly.  
  
"How are you feeling?" asked another voice: softer, warmer, more concerned; the girl looked over to the new figure and gave a tentative smile before nodding again. "Do you need something?" Water, she needed water; she could feel it running underneath the floor and outside the walls, but she didn't know how... she looked pointedly at a jar on a nearby table and her message got across. She reached for the glass of water the nurse was giving her and happily dipped her fingers into it, watching the drops dripping from her nails, feeling the cool and soothing substance running across her lips. Much better. One, two, three, four, five, six...six rapid heartbeats, not counting her own placid one, and only four figures to account for them. There were two strange creatures who she could not see, and whose hearts followed the same rhythm; a smile flittered across her lips.  
  
"Who are you?" asked the same booming voice, interrupting her thoughts; she turned towards the old wizard with a frown, but he was very imposing and powerful. She opened her pale lips to speak, but then closed them again, feeling uncertain. She knew who she was, but how could she explain it? "How are you called?" She nodded negatively; she didn't remember being called anything, she just was.  
  
She was. She was and she didn't remember anything else: a fresh place, with sun and stars and trees and water running everywhere, and flowers leaning into the breeze, and fairies on the grass, and her lovely companion, all storm-eyes, moon-hair and translucent skin. And the parting: the joining of two souls, two lips, the promise of a well-kept secret and then darkness and pain. She didn't want to dwell on that, and so she turned her attention back to the present. Everybody was looking at her, but the fear was subsiding.  
  
She smiled again. She could hear water pouring outside, the fire crackling in the hearth, the reassuring silence of the rock, the gushes of wind rattling the windows... she was safe, she knew she was. He had told her that she would be safe, and he had promised to go back for her if she behaved well. The knowledge gave her the strength to force some words out of her lips.  
  
"Where am I?" Voice cracked like a mirror which has seen the unnameable, rusty for lack of use.  
  
"You are at the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry" said Dumbledore, relieved at not finding something altogether unmanageable in the girl. "Do you know how you got here?" The girl closed her eyes; she remembered a cold voice asking her to keep it a secret and the remembrance made her feel very warm, as that cold voice always did.  
  
"No" she whispered "I remember darkness and the pain...and blood, blood everywhere. I don't remember anything else" Not exactly true, but she always kept her promises.  
  
"You don't have a name, then?" She started to reply and then something else came into her mind: night-time in her private paradise and she was dancing under the stars, and he was laughing like a silvery brook and calling her...  
  
"Lilith" she replied hurriedly "Call me Lilith". Suddenly it was a matter of great importance that she was called that, leaving a clue that allowed him to find her, without having to break her promise.  
  
"Are you tired, dear?" Madam Pomfrey noticed the agitation of her new charge, and decided to bring forward all her authority. The girl turned to her gratefully and nodded her assent; she wanted to be left alone with her thoughts, trying to find out what she had to do to go back to her paradise. "All right, Headmaster, this has been enough. You have put the girl through more trouble that I must have allowed. She needs to rest and all the other questions you have should be left for later, is that clear?"  
  
"Very well, Poppy, we'll go" agreed the old wizard, wanting to sort his thoughts before pressing the girl into giving them more information, something he wasn't keen on doing seeing her weakened state. "Come on, Ethan, Severus, we should let her sleep a while. Poppy come with me for a moment, if you please" They left the room, and the girl smiled: there were still two rapidly beating hearts with her. Then, the head of the old woman peered in.  
  
"I'll leave you here, dear, is that alright? If need anything, call me, and I'll be checking on you in a while anyway. Sleep well" and the old nurse was gone, and the door shone successively green, red, silver and gold, and Harry and Draco gulped at the same time. They were trapped.  
  
----------------- A/N: Lilith is a Biblical name; she was Adam's first companion before Eve, but then degenerated into a demon. I found the Celtic myth in Robert Grave's "White Goddess". Everything else (see for exceptions in the disclaimer) comes from my messed up head. Did you like it? I hope you can contribute some constructive criticism, thank you very much. 


	5. Wish you weren't here

A/N: Love reviews, crave reviews! Give me reviews! And a shower of kisses for those who have already done so...  
  
Summary: Well, the title is pretty self-explanatory. Four students have been killed and a fifth victim lies unconscious. But, who is she? And why were they killed? And, most importantly, whodunit? Harry Potter & Co. investigate while love tries to flourish.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything HarryPotterish, JK Rowling does, and I'm not making any money out of this. The plot and the few original characters are mine, if I want them.  
  
Rating: A high PG-13, I suppose, for swearing, violence and gory scenes.  
  
Pairing: Some RW/HG, but I think that main focus might be DM/HP.  
  
Murder in the Hogwarts Express or the Fifth Element, by Dark Fairy.  
  
Chapter 5  
  
  
  
Harry looked at Malfoy under the uncertain light that the cloak filtered. Dumbledore had just locked the door, and there was no telling when he would go back, or if they could escape even then. Moreover, they were trapped with a strange being, not quite human, and Malfoy seemed on the verge of fainting. As if things weren't great enough then, a clear voice rang through the chamber.  
  
"Here, little ones, let me see you!" exclaimed Lilith, keeping her voice to a moderate level; she could hear the speeding heartbeats, still coordinated, but she wanted to see what kind of creatures were with her. "Don't be afraid, I don't want to hurt you" she reassured, to no avail. Lilith didn't want to go to sleep, she rarely did, so she stood up carefully, intending to hunt the beings until they showed.  
  
Harry watched in fascination as he saw the girl stand by the bed and give a few uncertain steps. She was wearing grey robes, made with a thin, airy material that floated around her at the slightest wisp of air. Her hair was dark and undulated, reaching up to the middle of her back; her eyes were also dark, apparently changing colours with the play of the firelight, and the skin was very pale, even whiter than Malfoy's. As she walked closer to them, Harry noticed that she was rather elfin, almost ten inches shorter than him, and thin, with tiny hands and feet. He had judged her to be sixteen years old when he had had his first glimpse of her in the train, but now he began to doubt it. Suddenly he remembered a book he had read in school, back when he didn't know he was wizard; the book talked about sphinxes and how they looked ageless, sometimes very old, sometimes very young, always all-knowing. He had met real sphinxes now, but the literary description more than fit the strange girl who was walking so close to them.  
  
Malfoy wasn't thinking anymore. His mind had gone into overload when Dumbledore had begun to talk about the strange spells used for creating the girl, and he couldn't stop images and clues running through his head. His father's constant absences during the summer, the protected orchard at the back of Malfoy Manor's huge garden, the renewal of the Herbology section of the library, the strange odours coming from the underground laboratories, the far-away look in Lucius' usually sharp eyes, the way he would smile from time to time, when he was looking out into the garden... He had known that Lucius was responsible for the killings, but have it thrust so unexpectedly upon him...Draco bit his lip, trying to focus in the dangerous situation he was in at the moment, in the smell of Harry Potter, so close to him, in the strange figure that was standing right in front of them, looking quietly perplexed...  
  
"I know you are here..." muttered Lilith, hearing the scared heartbeats so close, and yet, the wall in front of her was empty "Are you invisible?" she asked, reaching out tentatively, only to meet the silky texture of the Invisibility Cloak, inches away. She grasped it firmly and pulled, yanking it out of Harry's feeble grasp and making both boys appear out of nowhere. Lilith dropped the cloak and stepped back, surveying her visitors attentively. "Fire and water, fire and water" she repeated, not taking her eyes off Draco.  
  
He looked so like her own, she thought hazily, still too shocked to be coherent. He had the same skin, translucent like a lily's petals, and the same eyes, the colour of a cloud about to break, and the same hair, silver like the full moon, and more than a passing resemblance to the man who held her heart, but he was also very different. There was an air of fragility, of innocence, around the boy that contrasted starkly with the powerful aura surrounding the other man's presence, with his cruelly chiselled smile, with the perverse thunder of his eyes. No, it was too different, there was nothing to be afraid of, after all, *he* had said everything was going to be alright.  
  
And the other one, with the green eyes and black hair, and blushing cheeks, the one whose movements screamed fire to her, that was something quite powerful too. It was a different kind of energy, fast, furious, not easily controlled, but also of great strength. As both boys looked at her, surprised and scared, their hearts continued beating at the same time. They were strangely cute, decided Lilith, smiling openly.  
  
"Your hearts beat at the same time, have you noticed?" she said, mirth ringing in her voice. Harry and Draco looked at each other, hiding their surprise with animosity, but not fooling Lilith "One of you is fire, one of you is water and you should be kept as far apart as possible, and yet you are drawn together...I don't understand. Is it normal for you to be like that?"  
  
"Like what?" stuttered Harry, blushing like there was no tomorrow. Lilith smirked, gliding towards them and stopping inches before crashing into them. One of her small hands shot towards Harry, the other, a bit more hesitantly, towards Draco.  
  
"Like this" she said, joining Harry's left hand with Draco's right one. There was an almost visible spark when they met, although they instantly pulled apart and the girl laughed happily. "Fire and water, I never thought I would live to see you together!"  
  
"We're not together" snapped Draco, with a visible blush on his pale skin.  
  
"No?" asked Lilith in mock surprise, looking at their twitching hands, so close from each other. Both boys looked down at them as well, wanting to join them, and still knowing they should have never gotten together to start with. She frowned. Hurt, those boys were hurting as well. They gave out too many emotions, it was hard to read them: fright, anger, confusion, pain, love, hatred... they were throwing too many things at her. "I don't understand" she accepted, turning her back to them and going back to bed.  
  
Harry looked at Draco, who was shifting his gaze from their hands to the girl and back, deciding which issue was more pressing. He still hadn't made up his mind when Lilith spoke again, her voice muffled by the pillow she had his herself under.  
  
"Now, it is time you became invisible again, because I can sense people coming and I suppose you don't want to be seen" Both boys, rather shaken, picked the cloak again, and hid beneath it, standing next to the door, in hopes of escaping. As soon as Dumbledore swept in, the two rapid heartbeats flew out of the door and faded down a corridor. The Hogwarts Headmaster thought he felt something brushing past him when he entered the hospital wing, but he was far too worried with the conversation he was planning to pay much attention, and he let it pass, instead turning to the pale girl who was staring at him, with uncertainty etched on her features.  
  
  
  
Harry and Draco fled down corridors, stumbling against each other in their attempt to get as far away from Lilith as possible. They stopped at the foot of the stair leading towards Gryffindor Tower, really out of breath.  
  
"Harry? How did everything go?" asked Hermione, standing up as soon as she heard the stopping steps "And take off that cloak, I feel really silly talking to you like this" Harry complied, revealing Draco as well.  
  
"Oh, Herm, you're not going to believe this!" gasped Harry before launching in a very incoherent attempt of telling the story.  
  
"Are you trying to say that the loony we're after used Dark Magic to...to make a person?" Hermione sat back down on the stairs to try and digest the idea. "And the girl in question talked to you?" Harry nodded dumbly "What did she say? Does she know who it was? And Malfoy knows and he hasn't told you?!"  
  
The Slytherin in question pushed himself away from the pillar where he had been leaning, and looked at both Gryffindors defiantly.  
  
"It is none of your business" he stated calmly, having recovered his façade "I point-blank refuse to help you from now on, and it's up to you to do whatever heroic stupidity you want, although I would suggest throwing yourselves off the Astronomy Tower or into the lake" He turned to leave.  
  
"You're not going off like this!" exclaimed Harry, gripping tightly Malfoy's shoulder.  
  
"Make me stay, then" defied Draco, raising his wand carelessly over his shoulder.  
  
"Stay, Malfoy, please" whispered Harry, feeling all of a sudden vulnerable and lost. His hand rested comfortably on the other boy's shoulder, and he could feel the heat radiating from under those robes, along with a similarly confused emotion and the now familiar sparks.  
  
"I'll leave you to it, then" said Hermione carefully, getting up and treading the stairs slowly, although the boys didn't even hear her, too immersed in their conflicting emotions. She was worried about Harry, that was for sure, but at the same time she felt strangely pleased that the boys were finally getting some sense and stopping the stupid feud they had been carrying along for five years. "There is an empty classroom at the end of the corridor, remember to lock the door." She called after her, not knowing if they would even listen.  
  
They did. As in a dream, feeling oddly disconnected from their bodies, they walked along the corridor and into the thankfully empty room. Draco locked it and they stood in a fidgety silence for a moment, until Harry gathered his renowned bravery and spoke firmly.  
  
"Look, I know you *know* who it was, and you are going to tell me" Stern voice, hidden fire behind a stony expression, making Draco became even more stubborn.  
  
"I'm not going to tell you" sulked Malfoy, looking intently at the floor, but sneaking an occasional glance to his right hand, as if it lacked something.  
  
"Damn you!" exclaimed Harry, fisting his hands at his sides "What the Hell do you think you're doing?! I thought you cared about that little boy, your cousin!! Why don't you want to tell me?"  
  
"Why do you want to know? After all, you can always pull the superhero stunt and come out victorious, like you always do, without needing my help!!! Why do you want me to do this?" The last words weren't angry, not even arrogant: they were quiet and heart-rendingly sincere. Harry felt all his anger ebbing away, leaving him with an odd feeling of disquiet and concern.  
  
"So, what is it?" //What is happening to us?// "What...?"  
  
"I can't tell you" blurted Draco, grasping at the slippery fringes of rationality.  
  
"Why? Don't you trust me?" Harry sounded genuinely offended. As always he was with Malfoy, the atmosphere became charged with electricity, the dream- like haze settled in his brain and nothing mattered anymore. There was no Dumbledore, no Voldemort, no war, no animosity, nothing outside the empty space between them.  
  
"I... I don't mean that, but..if I tell you, you will go straight to Dumbledore, to the Ministry...I can't have that" Draco found speaking increasingly difficult, and refusing was even more of an uphill battle than it had been until then.  
  
"Why, Malfoy, why?!" pleaded Harry, shaking his head in despair "I thought you wanted to know, to revenge Angus, to..."  
  
"I can't" accepted Draco, looking down.  
  
"Why? What did you find, Draco, why don't you want to tell me?" Harry was starting to get frustrated; he wanted to stop the stupid game and *really* talk to Malfoy. Seeing his eyes would be a good start. The Gryffindor took Draco's chin in his hand and forced the blond boy to look at him. Grey eyes, full of hurt of confusion, trying to hide it all under a crumbling veneer of contempt.  
  
"Promise not to tell anyone" whispered Malfoy, finally giving in. Harry nodded solemnly, his green eyes never leaving silver ones. After a moment's hesitation, Draco let his eyelids fall closed and breathed out: "It was my father"  
  
Harry stood shell-shocked, his hand still resting on Draco's soft skin. Lucius Malfoy, Death Eater Extraordinaire, risking his everything and raising the Fifth Element to defeat his lord?! Harry felt old notions of good and evil crumbling under the weight of facts, washed down by the stormy feeling that Draco was irradiating, even with his cloudy eyes closed.  
  
"I can't prove it, I will never be able to do so, but I *know* it was him" whispered Draco, letting his words fall like a summer rain. "He spent most of last year in his laboratory, back home; he was always carrying old Herbology books around, and the most dangerous, advanced Dark Arts stuff we have, the ones he never looked at after nightfall. Then, an orchard in the back of the garden was surrounded by tons of wards and curses and traps, and Mother wrote to me saying he almost never left the garden anymore, and he began to act more distracted and... he had never behaved like that! During all this summer, I didn't see him more than a handful of times, when we talked about me renouncing the Death Eaters or when he went with me to but me a broom... I never thought, not for a minute, that he was planning something like this" Draco had kept his eyes closed during his speech, and he didn't intend to open them soon, but a single tear betrayed all he hid behind the trembling eyelids.  
  
"Why?" whispered Harry, reaching out and gathering Draco in his arms "Why?"  
  
  
  
Dumbledore sat on the hospital wing, in front of the only bed whose snow- white sheets were dented by a thin body, and anyone would have noticed that his blue eyes had lost all their twinkling, if the remaining occupant of the room, Lilith, wasn't too busy wallowing in self-pity.  
  
"Are you saying... I was *made* to defeat a Dark wizard?" Voice cracked again, all vestiges of her newly-acquired confidence erased again. "He killed four little boys, he gave me their blood, he made me a monster? Why? Wasn't there any other way? And why me?" She started crying, and the old wizard felt something tugging at his heart-strings, while his rational part registered something. *He*. She spoke about a *he* and, from her countenance, she knew who it was.  
  
"Who was it?" he asked, effectively stopping her tears.  
  
"I don't know" she answered quickly, too quickly in Dumbledore's eyes; in the old wizard's clear mind, the puzzle began taking shape.  
  
"You promised him not to tell anyone, didn't you? And are you going to keep your promise even though he has betrayed you? He hurt you, he lied to you, and you are still going to be faithful?" Lilith hesitated for a split second, before turning her back to the powerful wizard.  
  
"I love him" she declared "And I'll keep my promise even if it kills me. You don't need to know, you only need me to go and kill Voldemort and then...finito. Nothing more. The end. Just leave me alone for a while, will you?" The Headmaster complied, walking thoughtfully to his office, narrowing down the field of suspects until he was left with only one option.  
  
--------------- A/N: OK, I'll try not to make a MarySue out of Lilith, but I want to develop her character a bit more, to bring out Lucius Malfoy. I love making Draco cry, but I promise he's not going to go all soft on us, leaving Harry to do the macho-boyfriend-superhero act; I don't like those fics where Harry says something and Draco breaks down, becoming a hysterically-sobbing heap at his feet, while his brains flow out of his ears like tapioca pudding...no, he is a Malfoy, after all.  
  
Next chapter: the boys will *finally* start realising, Hermione will find *the* book and there's an insight into Malfoy Manor.  
  
Merry Christmas (if a bit late) and a Happy New Year! 


	6. Only to recite poetry

A/N: Well, I'm not getting many reviews for this, but I'll keep on going anyway... and I'm dreadfully sorry about not having updated sooner, but I've been really busy, with exams, papers, other fics, and my always *intense* social life (please note the sarcasm dripping from the last words...)  
  
Summary: Well, the title is pretty self-explanatory. Four students have been killed and a fifth victim lies unconscious. But, who is she? And why were they killed? And, most importantly, whodunit? Harry Potter & Co. investigate while love tries to flourish.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything HarryPotterish, JK Rowling does, and I'm not making any money out of this. The plot and the few original characters are mine, if I want them.  
  
Rating: A high PG-13, I suppose, for swearing, violence and gory scenes.  
  
Pairing: Some RW/HG, but I think that main focus might be DM/HP.  
  
Murder in the Hogwarts Express or the Fifth Element, by Dark Fairy.  
  
Chapter 6  
Lucius Malfoy sat in the library at Malfoy Manor, with an open volume on his lap and a glass of Ogden's Old Firewhisky on the table next to him. Both his elegant hands rested on the soft velvet of the armchair, a dark green fabric that went along with his own forest-green robes, and his left foot tapped impatiently the carpeted floor. He wasn't waiting for anything in particular, but the ghosting feeling of impending danger hadn't left him since the 1st of September and he sort of welcomed it, since it eased the absence of other feelings, more profound and unsettling. He had re-read the Daily Prophet about five times, trying to find something that wasn't there, something to tell him that everything was going according to plan, a vague reference to the girl Draco had talked about in his first owl.  
  
Actually, Draco was one of the main reasons for everything to happen. Contrary to what the world saw, Lucius Malfoy was a family man, and he would do almost anything before seeing his loved ones threatened. 'Anything' included using all his magical prowess to create a highly illegal and dangerous creature that would prove to be the downfall of the wizard to whom he owed allegiance, and he had done just that when he began to foresee a turn in Voldemort's luck. He might had to face the consequences of his actions (and he wouldn't while he could help it) but under no circumstances whatsoever he was going to allow Narcissa or Draco to pay for him. No, everything would work out, Voldemort would be defeated and he, Lucius Malfoy, all evidence of his dark past erased, would be safe again, ready to earn power in another way.  
  
And meanwhile... the clock on the wall chimed seven times, and a thunder rolled outside, in the evening sky that threatened rain. He vividly remembered soft hands holding his face, shifting eyes locked into his, a shy smile and a timid whisper "Your eyes are like the sky when it's angry, but they scare me even more"; he remembered how he had smiled, asking if he was really that frightful, and how she had laughed, gazing back into the rolling clouds, and assenting between giggles. His slate-grey eyes became unfocused again as he brought back memories of the summer that was now transforming into autumn; it had been the happiest summer of his life since one night a pair of dark eyes had opened for the first time, while the full moon shone into the dungeon by a skylight, illuminating the shelves full with rare ingredients and strange artefacts. It had taken so long, to pain- stakingly gather the ingredients, many of which were of the rarest kind, to wait until the planetary system was in the right conjunction, to memorise incantations, to practice spells, to keep *everyone* in blissful ignorance of what he was doing, to have it all pending from having measured the right amount of mummia or pronouncing the Celtic prayer correctly, but in the end it all paid off when those dark eyes had opened and reflected the light from the full moon.  
In her room, Narcissa Malfoy was peering into a small mirror with a heavily ornate frame: it wasn't her flawless reflection she was examining, but a real-time image of what was happening in the library of Malfoy Manor. Lucius, her Lucius, was sitting there again, not reading, not writing, with that far-away look that robbed him of his usual sharpness, his mind retired behind a curtain of memories. She was well aware that her duty as a wife was to stand by her husband and to obey his orders, whether explicit or implied, but she had a horrible feeling of uncertainty with his last scheme and she couldn't shake it off, however hard she tried. The news of the attack to the Hogwarts Express had shaken her nerves badly, and her sister's grieving for her dead child had brought it all too close to her heart: the though of having her beloved Draco harmed in any way was terrifying, and Agnus Noisette had been killed not ten feet away from him, in one of the few places she deemed safe. And Lucius, Lucius calmly strolling in while she was crying, Lucius telling her it would be alright, Lucius with his expressionless face and hazy eyes, not moved, not even surprised by the news...what is a wife and a mother to do?  
Harry held Draco for a long minute, his mind refusing to process the weirdness of the situation, until the Slytherin boy gently untangled himself from his grasp. Smoothing his mussed hair with his long fingers, Malfoy turned questioning eyes towards his (now former) archenemy. Harry sighed heavily, but the weight of his promised was greater.  
  
"I won't say anything" answered Harry to the unspoken question. The gratitude in those grey eyes was unmistakable, and the Gryffindor felt all his regrets melt at this.  
  
"Thank you" said Draco, managing a half-smile that made him look amazingly vulnerable, and although Harry felt the need to protect him with all his might, he repressed it. Barely. The Slytherin sighed and decided to share a bit more of information "I will write to Father, telling him of what I've managed to find out, and wait for his answer. If he tells me, he will also tell me what to do, and if he doesn't..."  
  
"If he doesn't, what are you going to do?" pressed Harry.  
  
"You do notice that there is nothing I can do, don't you?" smiled Draco caustically "Have you got the slightest idea of what would happen to me if my father gets into trouble?" Harry grimaced at the thought "My point exactly. I have to stand by him, whatever happens; it's one of the perks of being a Malfoy, you know?" Draco seemed to have recovered his cool, but Harry was still feeling rather confused and he looked quite so, endearing to Malfoy's eyes.  
  
"Then...does it mean that I'll have to be an accomplice?"  
  
"Look, I'm quite sure that there'll be no more bloodshed from that side of the equation, and you can just...advocate for the greater good" The argument was lame, and Draco knew it, but there was nothing else he could say. "I'm sorry"  
  
Silence fell again between them, charged with a magic not summoned by any wand. Harry breathed deeply and wandered if it had always been like this before realising that he had never before had a proper conversation with Malfoy. He wondered why not, since it felt intrinsically right. From his side, Draco marvelled at the chain of events leading to that easy chat, the temporary respite earned by meaningful talks, painful concessions and much bloodshed. It shouldn't have to be like that, they both thought, their considerations coordinated like their heartbeats were.  
  
"Harry" "Draco" they said at the same time; they both stopped and smiled, their mirth lightning up the mood. "You speak first" granted the Slytherin, taking manners as the disguise for cowardice.  
  
"I..." Harry blushed, feeling the tingly atmosphere buzzing around him "I just wanted to say that for some strange reason, nothing I can really explain, I'm beginning to trust you like I never thought I would" A dry smile quirked the Gryffindor's chapped lips.  
  
"Well, that's certainly flattering" snorted Draco, meaning his words more than he would admit. "I..just, thank you, for keeping your promises, and generally being you goody-two-shoes Gryffindor self" The blond boy managed to sound grateful while being sarcastic, and Harry appreciated it. There were still many things left unresolved between them, but he preferred not to think about them, at least not at that particular moment. As if on cue to stop an unwelcome silence, someone knocked at the door.  
  
"Harry, Malfoy, are you in there? Open up, I need to show you something!" Hermione's muffled whisper came from the other side of the door and Malfoy moved towards it to open it, after shooting a glance to Harry 'It's a secret' that look said 'Don't say anything or else' "Everything alright?" asked Hermione when she entered the room, followed by a yawning Ron. "I just had to show you this. I'd taken this book for a bit of extra-Runes reading, but when you mentioned Flower Girl, I remembered something" She opened the book on a page she had marked, and read out a few lines:  
  
"Not from father, nor from mother/ Were my blood or my body/ It was charmed by Gwydion/ The greatest Briton wizard/ When he made me with nine flowers/ Nine blossoms of various classes:/ With the mountain ivy The rose, the lily and the carnation Together intertwined/ With the bean-flower that gives shadow/ To an army of white ghosts/ Earthly ghosts, earthbound by kind/ With the flowers of violet The oak, the thorn, and the timid chestnut/ Nine powers of nine flowers/ Nine powers in me were combined/ Nine blossoms of plants and trees/ Long and pale my fingers are/ Like the ninth wave of the sea"  
  
Hermione stopped after that, her face shining with pride and intelligence.  
  
"You mean you dragged me out of bed just to recite poetry?!" groaned Ron, earning a glare from his girlfriend.  
  
"Go back to sleep, Weasel" snapped Draco, his eyes narrowed in concentration. "Granger, how is that poetry called? It sounds vaguely familiar"  
  
"Hanes Blodeuwedd" replied Hermione, peering into the page "It says that it is the English translation of the Spanish translation of the English translation of the Gaelic original [Sorry, I couldn't lay my hands in the English version of it!]"  
  
"The May Queen, an ancient Celtic tradition, which appears in almost every poetic compilation... how could I be so blind?" asked Draco, biting his lower lip. He fell silent again, staring decidedly at the stone floor.  
  
Harry had been doing the same since Hermione had made her entrance. What was he going to tell his friends? 'Sorry guys, I promised our archenemy I wouldn't investigate into the murder of our friend, because he doesn't want his father implicated'. He snorted softly, not noticing the looks Ron and Hermione were giving him. Only a short cough brought him back to reality, looking up only to see Dumbledore, with a many-coloured dressing robe and a strange twinkling in his eyes.  
  
"How nice to find you all gathered together, not fighting for once!" exclaimed the old wizard. "Still, I'm afraid I'll have to interrupt this little reunion...Can I have a word with you, Mr Malfoy?"  
  
Draco visibly shrinked back from Dumbledore, shooting a fleeting glance to Harry. Then, another shadow appeared behind the Hogwarts Headmaster.  
  
"Did you want to talk to me, Sir?" asked Ethan Grimm, with soft concern in his voice.  
  
"Yes, Ethan, thank you for coming at this ungodly hour of the night. Would you mind leading your cousin into my office while I have a word with these Gryffindors?" Ethan and Draco left silently, leaving Hermione, Harry and Ron, who was suddenly awake, at the mercy of the white-haired wizard. "Miss Granger, how lovely! That was the exact book I was looking for this afternoon, but Madam Pince refused to give me any preference over her favourite student! Would you mind letting me have a look?" Hermione blushed under the compliment, and handed the old volume to Dumbledore, forgetting to shut the page it was at. "And we were researching the same subject!"  
  
Harry gulped. There was no chance of Dumbledore *not* seeing that they had stuck their noses where they didn't belong, once again. Ron seemed aware of that as well, while Hermione's face had long ago been covered by the veil of realisation.  
  
"What do you know about the May Queen, then?" asked Dumbledore, his blue gaze oddly piercing.  
  
"Well, Harry mentioned a legend and I just remembered seeing something about it..." Hermione shot an apologetic look to Harry, who was too worried to notice. Dumbledore now turned to him, his eyes never stopping their annoying twinkling.  
  
"Indeed, Mr Potter. I would like to talk to you more calmly about it, seeing as we share interests...May I suggest to Miss Granger and Mr Weasley a prompt return to their respective dormitories? I hardly think it is time for wandering around" Hermione and Ron stuttered their good-nights and scurried back to Gryffindor Tower, while Harry remained with Dumbledore. "Let's go to my office, Harry, and have a nice cup of tea" proposed the old man, leading the way.  
"What the Hell happened?" hissed Draco, following Ethan through a dark corridor.  
  
"You saw the girl, didn't you?" snapped Ethan back "Dumbledore went to talk to her a while after he woke her up..."  
  
"I was still there, with Potter" Draco informed his cousin "We left as soon as he went in"  
  
"Well, so he talked to her, went back to his office, had like a hundred lemon drops and then looked at a battered piece of parchment, sent me a message asking me to meet him at that classroom and then, you know, he found you" Ethan was seriously stressed: he didn't want to lose his post as a Hogwarts teacher, but he knew ha had to protect his family.  
  
"Do you think he suspects Lucius?" asked Draco worriedly. The younger wizard was biting his bottom lip and shuffling nervously in front of the stone gargoyle.  
  
"Well, it took us only a day to find out, it would have surprised me if Dumbledore hadn't discovered it sooner" the DADA teacher blew the hair out of his eyes and smiled down at his little cousin. "Now, just what were you doing in an empty classroom, at this hour of the night, with Potter?" Draco blushed horrendously at the malicious tone of the question.  
  
"Nothing!" he shrieked "We had just gone back from the hospital wing, and then we..." he doubted about telling Ethan that Harry also knew "I told him I suspected Father, and he promised to keep it a secret" //And he told me he trusted me, and he hugged me and... admit it, it was more than a simple chat!// said the voice inside Draco's head.  
  
"You do realise you've lost your mind, don't you?" asked Ethan, unable to keep the mirth out of his voice at the sight of his usually self-composed cousin blushing for all he was worth. Further commentaries were dismissed by the sound of Dumbledore's slippers shuffling along a corridor, followed by Harry's squeaky trainers.  
  
"Let us have a cup of tea and a cosy chat" said the Headmaster, caressing the stone gargoyle into springing apart and letting them through. "After all, it seems we have a lot to talk about"  
  
----------------- A/N: Well, the Celtic quote is real, although I had to make up the names of the flowers (damn my lack of a proper English dictionary!).. 


	7. Conversation over tea

A/N: This story has apparently not been very successful in terms of reviews (except for you, Sue, I love you!), but I'll keep going anyway... This is a longer chapter than usual, but a had a bout of inspiration, and it so scarce nowadays that I had to make the most of it  
  
Summary: Well, the title is pretty self-explanatory. Four students have been killed and a fifth victim lies unconscious. But, who is she? And why were they killed? And, most importantly, whodunit? Harry Potter & Co. investigate while love tries to flourish.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything HarryPotterish, JK Rowling does, and I'm not making any money out of this. The plot and the few original characters are mine, if I want them.  
  
Rating: A high PG-13, I suppose, for swearing, violence and gory scenes.  
  
Pairing: Some RW/HG, but I think that main focus might be DM/HP.  
  
Murder in the Hogwarts Express or the Fifth Element, by Dark Fairy.  
  
Chapter 7  
"So," started Dumbledore, examining the three young men sitting in front of him, each with a cup of tea and a nervous expression, each avoiding his eyes "it seems like we have all come to the same conclusion, haven't we?" No-one answered, and Dumbledore smiled even wider. "Ethan, have you got any suspicions regarding the dreadful attack to the Hogwarts Express?"  
  
"None yet, sir" answered Ethan, quite calmly; his grey eyes looked at his boss for a long moment before dropping back to his cup of tea.  
  
"How about you, Mr Malfoy?" Draco looked up to the Headmaster, and arranged his face into a respectfully arrogant expression.  
  
"I don't have enough information about what happened to make up my mind, although I must admit I've been looking into it... I have every intention of bringing my cousin's murderer into justice"  
  
"Which justice, one wonders" commented Dumbledore, without pressing any further into the subject. "And you, Harry, what about you? It seems like, once again, you've managed to find trouble, although this time you can claim that trouble does look for you specially. Don't you have anything to share with us?" Harry gulped a scalding sip of tea and tried not to shoot a pleading look to Draco.  
  
"I did look into it a bit, sir, but I don't claim to know who it was, and... I don't have the slightest clue at all, actually"  
  
"So, are you saying that it is just my sheer brilliancy that permits me to see this crystal-clear? I'm flattered" Turning suddenly serious, Dumbledore looked to his desk. "Mr Malfoy, do you think your father will find it inconvenient if I fire him now?"  
  
"I don't believe he will, sir, he always stays awake till late" replied Draco carefully. Dumbledore assented and turned towards the fire, allowing Draco to exchange a *very* worried look with his cousin, leaving Harry to feel left out. Not thirty seconds later, the handsome head of Lucius Malfoy was standing on the fire, looking at Dumbledore haughtily.  
  
"Hello, Lucius, pardon me for bothering you so late in the evening" greeted the old wizard with a pleasant smile. "I was just wondering if you could step into my office for a moment, to discuss something" Grey eyes, perfectly expressionless, took in the surroundings of the Headmaster.  
  
"Certainly, Albus" was all that Lucius said, before the fire turned red, and the school governor was stepping into the room, muttering a spell to clean the soot out of his perfect sky-blue robes. "Good-evening, Draco, I hope this ill-timed calling doesn't have to do with you. Good-evening, Ethan, Potter" It was pure venom that dripped off Harry's name, but Dumbledore pretended not to notice.  
  
"Would you like to take a seat, Lucius, perhaps have a cup of tea?"  
  
"Not really, Albus. I would be grateful if this meeting were to last a little as possible, I have business to attend at the Manor" The eldest Malfoy turned to face the Headmaster and raised a pale, perfect eyebrow.  
  
"You have been informed of the happenings at the Hogwarts Express, haven't you, Lucius?" asked Dumbledore, as if the news hadn't shocked the wizarding community to its very roots.  
  
"Of course I have! I am a school governor and a Ministry official. Besides, you in person owled me with the news... what are you getting at, Dumbledore? I don't have time to spend in childish games" Lucius seemed politely exasperated, but there was nothing betraying the mounting fear inside him, or the drum roll his heart had started when he had stepped in Hogwarts.  
  
"The girl who was found in the carriage has awoken, and she has described her attacker" announced Dumbledore, to everyone's great surprise. Draco paled and looked at Ethan, who was also looking as worried as possible; Harry only wanted to reach out for Draco and unclenched his thin hands from where they were digging their nails in the armchair. The only one who didn't react was Lucius, who hadn't believed a word of it.  
  
"Really? Why haven't you told the Ministry yet? I'm sure you'll need some Aurors to deal with the arrest of this person... or did you call me because you need my help with it?" Dumbledore piercing gaze never left Lucius, but apart from the fact that he was hiding something, he couldn't see any further.  
  
"Your help? It couldn't come in a more appropriate time, Lucius" The Hogwarts Headmaster had decided to change tactics, and was now going for the psychological war "Why don't we all go and see her, so she can tell us all what she saw?"  
  
Touché! Lucius was left speechless for a minute, the unexpected proposal breaking down his barriers; only for a moment, though, because immediately afterwards he drew himself up and smiled.  
  
"Very well, then, Albus. I hope it won't take long, but even if it does, it is my duty to go to the end in this investigation: not only because of my attachments to the school, but because of the family implications... Lead the way!"  
  
Albus got up and started descending the spiralling staircase, seemingly distracted, and almost missing the look Lucius gave to the youngest members of his family; amazingly, it was a look of reassurance, and it was enough to calm Draco and Ethan's nerves, and give them back their façades. Harry just followed everybody, lost and confused, unable to read any of the signs, except for Draco's renewed smirk, which told him everything was falling back into place; with Fawkes in their trail, silent and observant like he had been all of his life, the parade made its way across Hogwarts.  
  
"Headmaster, you cannot come and disturb her yet again!" huffed Madam Pomfrey determinately, standing in front of the door "Whatever you told her in your last visit was enough to give her a nervous breakdown... I will not allow that anymore!"  
  
"Move, woman!" roared Dumbledore unexpectedly, pushing the frightened nurse away and banging the door open. Harry noticed that the old wizard was acting just like he had acted with Barty Crouch Jr., and it scared him, for his sake and for everyone else's //Specially for Draco's, isn't it?//  
  
Lilith stood up suddenly when the mismatched group invaded her chambers, only to fall back into bed as soon as she saw Lucius. Dumbledore advanced quickly towards her, his expression stony, his eyes blazing; Harry only had the time to cringe before two things happened at the same time. The eldest Malfoy moved forwards, one arm outstretched to stop Dumbledore, at the same time that a furious gush of wind knocked the Headmaster into the wall.  
  
"Don't touch me!" hissed Lilith, crouching between the pillows of her bed. Her tiny hand was pointing towards Dumbledore and that strange wind was still running through the chamber. Lucius stood in the middle of them, his eyes determinately avoiding the girl.  
  
"Dumbledore, calm down before you do anything stupid!" exclaimed the blonde wizard, raising Harry's appreciation of his courage several notches. Albus stood up, outwardly composed, and faced Lucius; there was a furious blue fire dancing in the old eyes, and the Death Eater had a single moment to fear.  
  
"Look at your masterpiece now, Lucius. Don't you dare? She is your making, your work of art, and yet your eyes avoid her like the plague... what's wrong? Did she disappoint you in any way?" It was a dangerous game the Headmaster was playing, but he was desperate for an answer.  
  
"I don't know what you're talking about, Albus" replied Lucius in a thinly controlled voice, still not turning towards Lilith "I suggest you recover your senses, and then we may have a proper conversation" While every muscle in his body was clearly screaming that he would throw himself into a pit of wild dogs before he did what he was doing, Lucius appeared remarkably tranquil as he turned towards Lilith and looked at her.  
  
An endless moment passed, in which grey eyes locked with black eyes, and then the wind died all of a sudden. Lilith loosened her tense pose and relaxed against the bedpost, and Lucius turned back to Dumbledore, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead, proof if there was any of the tremendous effort he had just made.  
  
"What was it she was supposed to tell us, Albus? I don't find her very cooperative at all" His voice was back at its normal pitch, and Albus Dumbledore bit his moustache in anger.  
  
"Lilith, tell us who it was" he ordered, without looking at the girl. "Tell us who used you, who made you into a weapon, who robbed you of your choices, of your humanity..."  
  
Harry watched in fascination the play that was developing before his eyes; the powerful old wizard, the younger, dangerous man, the fragile and yet strong girl... all of the time he was aware of Draco's unwavering look, trained on his father, of the blind trust that glance emanated, of the lost self-confidence restored by a look and a curt nod. It was envy that played in the back of his mind, amongst the fear he had for the latest developments.  
  
"I don't know who it was" replied Lilith, her voce louder that it had been ever before "I told you once, and I'll tell you again, I do not have the slightest idea of who did this" She paused for a moment and then resumed her speech "It is not the time to spend your wits in fruitless investigations. I was called for a reason, and I intend to make it a reality. The encounter is nearing and I have not been prepared; dedicate yourselves to this task, and leave your struggles for other time" Calm authority, found in some forgotten corner of her broken heart, Lilith was irradiating strength as she called our her orders.  
  
Dumbledore leant back against the wall, all the fire in his eyes gone once again. Lilith gave an indefinable smile, and straightened up a bit more.  
  
"You are nothing without me. You would be lost if I were to abandon you. I am your last hope. Obey these simple orders, and I will obey yours when the time comes: leave the mystery covering my origins alone, and train me, teach me how to use my strength." She gave a look around her, stopping to smile at Harry and Draco, who had the decency to blush "It will be to your advantage as well as to mine"  
When Harry woke up the following morning, he had a tremendous headache and a nagging feeling of emptiness in his stomach that wasn't all to be attributed to hunger. The events of the past night came rushing in just as he had to face Ron; with a groan, the Boy Who Lived fell back into bed and covered his face with a pillow.  
  
"I won't ask anything, mate" called Ron from somewhere near the door "Let's just go and have breakfast, and if you want to tell us anything, you can do it afterwards" Surprised, but nonetheless grateful for the unexpected sensitiveness of his best friend, Harry threw some clothes on and ran down to the Great Hall, to sit by Hermione. He noticed the empty place where Draco used to sit, but he refused to think before he had had something to eat, and he turned back to his toast and tea, stubbornly keeping his eyes on his plate until Ron's patience wore thin and Harry found himself being dragged out of the Hall, followed by a scolding Hermione.  
  
"Ron, you should have let him finish his breakfast!"  
  
"No, I've waited enough! Dumbledore drags him off with Malfoy last night, he doesn't come back till the morning and he stills tries to act as if nothing had happened... if he's so hungry, I can Transfigure some of this chalk into bread, and be done with it!" Remembering his dreadful experiences with that particular Transfiguration assignment, Harry quickly refused.  
  
"No, it's OK, I've had enough to eat anyway!" Seeing his friends' worried looks, Harry started to tell them everything that had happened last night; to them, and to anyone who didn't have the inside knowledge Harry had, Dumbledore's attitude towards Lucius, though worrying, was granted by the man's shadowy reputation; and there were more pressing subjects at hand, anyway "... and so, Dumbledore said she would start to train as soon as possible, maybe even today. She seemed afraid that she would have to fight before she was ready"  
  
"Do you think You-Know-Who will strike soon?" whispered Ron, looking panickedly around him.  
  
"Yes, Voldemort has already assembled his forces, and he will want to attack before we have time to prepare" confirmed Harry gloomily "However, it is good news to know that we have a secret weapon with us..."  
  
"Not so secret, Harry" contradicted Hermione "Both Malfoys have already seen her, it's just as if You-Know-Who himself had come to visit her. I don't know what Dumbledore was trying to do when he showed her to Malfoy, but I think that the element surprise has totally gone out the window"  
  
"Maybe Voldemort doesn't know how to fight her! You saw yourself that mixing the elements has loads of different effects, he won't know what he has to face until it's too late!"  
  
"We don't know what he will have to face either! Not even Dumbledore knows what that girl can do, it's very dangerous, it could perfectly backfire!" Hermione sounded more and more like McGonagall as she grew older, and the impersonation she was doing then was almost perfect; Ron looked on, from his girlfriend to his best friend, unable to butt it "How about she chickens out in the middle of the battle?"  
  
"She's a Gryffindor, she won't chicken out!" said Harry proudly, remembering Neville's show of courage in their first year.  
  
"She might not know what to do!" exclaimed Hermione, who had now hopped in the fatalist wagon.  
  
"She's a Ravenclaw, she'll find out"  
  
"She might give up on everything already!" Hermione wasn't convinced that the girl would want to fight after all that had happened to her.  
  
"She's a Hufflepuff, she'll be there till the very end"  
  
"She might have to do something horrible, she's only a girl" Hermione's mind flashed vivid images of what Lilith could have to face, and she cringed.  
  
"She's a Slytherin, she'll go through it" concluded Harry "Can't you see it, Herm? She's got all our virtues, all that makes Hogwarts so great! Not even Dumbledore dared do anything to her, she blew him back..."  
  
"That amount of power in a single person is very dangerous..." Hermione was going to carry on arguing, but she was cut off by Malfoy, pale, with huge dark circles under his eyes, and a confident smirk plastered on his face.  
  
"I'm going to have to agree with the Mudblood, Potter, and yet you said something that is also true" He allowed a moment to let the compliment sink in "Won't you ask Creevy to take a picture now?! Surely the day you had a coherent thought should be recorded..."  
  
"Say what you've got to say already, Malfoy, and then leave" Ron was the only one who hadn't been complimented, and he felt hurt by it.  
  
"Very well, Weasel, here it is: Potter said that the girl has all the qualities from the four houses: she's brave, she's clever, she's stubborn, and she's recursive..."  
  
"Some call the later "hard-working" and "devious", but I can see your point" interrupted Harry darkly, upset to see that Malfoy had reverted to his old self.  
  
"As I was saying, before I was interrupted by various loud sounds," said Draco loudly, drowning Harry's complaint "she has all our virtues, true, but she also has all our defects"  
  
Silence descended again on the little group. Harry tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to catch Draco's eye, to find some vestige of the trust shared the night before, but there was none.  
  
"But they cancel each other out" muttered Hermione after a pause "Gryffindors are known for leaving things half-done, and jumping into things without much thought, but Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw's influence should put an end to that. Slytherins are double-faced," she looked at Draco and smiled "no offence to those present, of course, but Gryffindor's loyalty..."  
  
"It doesn't have to work that way" cut in Ron, exasperated "People don't inherit all their parents' virtues and defects, only some of them... maybe she won't be a cowardly snake after all"  
  
"Shut up, Weasel, you have no idea what you're talking about" Draco turned back to the two other Gryffindors "You, as the only remotely intelligent Gryffindors in existence, will have to help her with the Gryffindor defects. I will do so with whatever Slytherin bad-treats she has, if there is such a thing... we can't tell anyone else, so the other houses' defects will also run our way..."  
  
"Wait a minute! Did Dumbledore ask you to tell us this? Even better, does he have any idea at all of your brilliant plan?" Harry had a very strong gut feeling that both answers were 'no', but at least Draco would have to talk to him.  
  
"Face it, Gryffs, the old fool has been bested. He has no idea at all of what he's meant to do with what he's got. You saw it last night, Potter, so stop deceiving yourself. I am not interested in seeing the girl fail, and I will do whatever is in my hands to help her... are you in, or aren't you?" The challenge resounded like a slap in Harry's already hot-tempered mind.  
  
"In, of course" he spat "Why did you even bother asking?"  
  
"We need your Cloak, Potter, no other reason whatsoever" answered Draco easily. Hermione, who knew where those two were standing (in the Swamps of Denial, at the moment), shook her head.  
  
"Fine, we'll meet tonight in the Entrance Hall, after midnight... and don't try to get us into trouble, Malfoy, or you'll end up putting the ferret look in vogue again" threatened the bushy-haired girl; the Slytherin gave her his best contemptuous look, and smirked.  
  
"Clever answer, Mudblood, but I'll never feel offended by someone who isn't even worthy of kissing the ground I step on" Before Harry or Ron had time to curse him, he gracefully left the room and his steps began fading down the corridor.  
  
While Ron ranted on and on, and Hermione, with very flushed cheeks, slammed her books on the table, Harry sank into his place in the History of Magic classroom, and dedicated his free time to feel miserable. Where had the magic gone? Where was the frightened boy he had held on his arms the night before? Why the Hell was Malfoy acting like always?  
  
------------ A/N: Oh, it seems like a huge jump backwards in their advancing relationship, but Harry and Draco will work it out in the next chapter (I think). Did you spot Malfoy quoting Eeyore? A cookie for you!!! 


End file.
